LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Republicans had big wins Friday, as three of their main legislative priorities passed milestones; one of them secured a spot on the November ballot.
House Bill 2, which creates a voting referendum on charter school funding, passed the full senate on a third reading Friday. Voters will now decide in November whether or not to amend Kentucky's constitution to allow for public funding of charter schools. Republicans have previously passed laws that do this, but they have been declared unconstitutional.
House Bill 5, the "Safer Kentucky Act", passed the full senate as a committee substitute. The house will vote next week on whether or not to approve the slightly amended version and send it to Governor Andy Beshear's desk, where he will likely veto it.
The Safer Kentucky Act increases penalties for violent crimes and makes it a class B misdemeanor to "unlawfully camp" on public or private streets after a first warning.
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"I know some have said, 'Where is the data?' And, there's data that backs this up," Senator John Schickel, R-Florence, said. "And you can interpret data any way you want to. And I hear this all the time about data-driven decisions. But I like to use a different term: value-driven decisions. What is our value when we're making this decision? And our value in this law is 1. justice and 2. public safety."
Democrats proposed several amendments to this bill, and it appeared at the last moment several amendments were taken out that were agreed upon. Senator Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, opened the debate by asking to remove five of his own amendments because "there isn't the votes in both chambers."
"When our Senator from Christian said he was not gonna be calling his amendments, I had to stand up and walk out because it was a sense of frustration," Sen. David Yates said, D-Louisville. "I was of the hope that we would have a compromise."
Yates said he agrees with a lot of the bill, but other parts are missing the mark.
"When they have longer incarceration rates, that actually doesn't improve recidivism because when they get out they're less likely to be rehabilitated," Yates said.
"The idea is to fund -- the things we're not doing -- funding education, the Pre-K, take care of the mental illness...if you do those, that has the greatest impact...but we don't do those because it doesn't sell like political hot cakes."
Senate Bill 6, which has to do with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in schools, passed the full house. It will return to the senate to agree on the committee substitute.
Opponents have warned the proposed restrictions on campuses could roll back gains in minority enrollments and stifle college campus discussions on topics dealing with past discrimination. However, GOP senators claim those same programs discriminate against certain people in the college hiring and admission processes.
During house debate Friday, Democrats said the bill would take away from the fabric of who we are as Kentuckians. Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, told a story about when she wasn't allowed to go to a friend's sleepover as a kid because she was Black.
"We must learn from one another. We must take the time to learn and understand people's 'come from.' If we don't understand people's 'come from,' there's no way we'll be able to lead and make our Commonwealth a better place," Herron said.
Herron asked the Republican floor manager Jennifer Decker, R-Shelby County, if college students from rural areas should get sensitivity training on struggles some students might have in urban cities.
"I think the entire experience in college is a seminar on that. But if you're asking if there should be a specific seminar for rural students, I do advocate for diversity initiatives on place, not race," Rep. Decker said.
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